Jet2 boosts its financial position with a £387m bond offering as it prepares for a return to normality

Holiday firm Jet2 has improved its financial position with the successful pricing and final terms of an offering of £387.4m of guaranteed senior unsecured unrated convertible bonds.
Jet2 said that Jet2.com and Jet2holidays will continue to have "a thriving future"Jet2 said that Jet2.com and Jet2holidays will continue to have "a thriving future"
Jet2 said that Jet2.com and Jet2holidays will continue to have "a thriving future"

The Leeds-based firm said it has taken decisive action to boost its finances over the past year, raising close to £1bn in liquidity from a wide range of funding sources to mitigate the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic. This included £200m from the Bank of England's Covid Corporate Financing Facility.

Jet2 said its liquidity position is strong. The group's cash position at the end of March was an unaudited cash total of £1.4bn and "own cash" (excluding advance customer deposits) of £1.1bn, an increase of 104 per cent on the previous year end. This is ahead of the scenarios outlined at the time of the recent placing in early February.

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The company has previously said it intends to restart its flying operations on June 24.

It said that current customer booking trends for summer 2021 reflect the availability of truly accessible, UK Government approved destinations.

The firm said that given the continued short-term uncertainty, it is encouraged by the volume of customer bookings to date for both winter 2021/22 and for summer 2022.

The group said that package holiday bookings are making up a materially higher mix of the total.

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Based on this limited visibility, the firm said it is confident that once normality returns, its customers will be determined to enjoy "the wonderful experience of a well-deserved Jet2 holiday" and that Jet2.com and Jet2holidays will continue to have "a thriving future", taking millions of UK holidaymakers annually, to the Mediterranean, the Canary Islands and to European leisure cities.

The firm said the bond proceeds will be used to further strengthen its balance sheet and position the company for a strong recovery when lockdown restrictions are lifted, through fleet growth and fleet renewal opportunities.

The ordinary shares underlying the convertible bonds represent around 10 per cent of the company's existing ordinary share capital immediately prior to the offering. As a result, the board has consulted with the company's major shareholders, who have endorsed this strategy.